City at the End of Time. Greg Bear January 11, 2009
Posted by Cyd in science fiction.Tags: alternate worlds, far-future, future, Greg Bear, parallel world, science fiction, time travel
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This novel takes place in two different, but connected, places. One is a current-day version of Seattle. The other is a far-future city on Earth that is on the verge of collapse. The two are connected, and the nature of this connection is part of the mystery of the story. The three main characters in Seattle, Ginny, Jack and Daniel, have unique abilities, which are another part of the mystery. These abilities have made them the targets of some very nasty individuals. In the far-future city of the Kalpa, Tiadba and Jebrassy are trying to learn more about their protected city and the Chaos that lies beyond.
Jumping back and forth between these two narratives gives us time to learn about the lives of the characters and the states of their respective worlds. We also learn about some of the history of the far-future world and how it came to be nearing the end of time.
I found this story fascinating. The characters are well drawn and easy to identify with. I was quickly drawn into their lives and predicaments. I cared about what was going to happen to all of them, and I was also drawn into the greater mystery about what was happening to the universe. Some of the explanations of that, and the science behind it, were a little confusing to me, but not so much that it interfered with my enjoying the book. Some of the story read more like urban fantasy than science fiction – the mysterious abilities of some of the characters, although explained through science, often had the feel of being magical.
Bear is great at creating tension and suspense. I also love his style of writing. He has a wonderful way with language, making it a delight to read his work. I highly recommend this one.
Further reading:
The author’s site for City at the End of Time.
Anathem. Neal Stephenson November 23, 2008
Posted by Cyd in science fiction.Tags: alternate worlds, hard SF, history, life on other planets, long works, mathematics, monasteries, Neal Stephenson, philosophy, science, science fiction
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I finished this book at last. I’m a fairly slow reader, and it took me about 5 weeks to finish (with a short break to read a few graphic novels in between). I enjoyed it every step of the way.
I don’t want to give any spoilers, so I’m not going to comment here on what happens to our hero, Fraa Erasmus, or his world. I don’t like knowing too much about a story before reading it, and I’m sure most people feel the same way. As I mentioned in my earlier post on this book, we learn about the world as it is, and then things get interesting.
Stephenson plays around with a lot of scientific and mathematical ideas, and a lot of the book is taken up with educating readers so that by the end we understand what is happening. His world makes it easy for him to do this. Because the main characters live in a world of learning, we merely go along with them, listening in on their discussions and investigations. It all works in context with the ongoing storyline. Every time I started to feel bored with extended scenes of these discussions, Stephenson would break away into more action. In this way I thought he struck a good balance. Of course, I love hard SF for this reason, so I might have more tolerance than some readers to lengthy discussions of scientific and philosophical ideas. But I think it’s worth reading them because they are all there for a reason – to inform what happens later in the story. As far as I can remember, nothing is included for no reason. This is one of Stephenson’s strengths as a writer – that everything that happens is there for a reason (which makes me think of Chekhov’s gun). I admire that he is able to sustain this over such a long book, and that very close to the end I found myself seeing how a character’s interest in something way back in the beginning introduced ideas that were returned to and built on over and over through the story. One simple example of this is Fraa Lio’s interest in Vale-lore, which introduces us to the idea that martial arts is considered worthy of study in the Concents. As the plot moves along, Vale-lore, and the Valers who devote themselves to its study, come up again and again, playing ever more important roles. Another example is the frequent reference to the history of the people on this planet. By learning about its history, events in the present have more context, and the events at the end have a far greater meaning than they otherwise would have.
On top of all of the science, there is also, of course, a very good story. It has plenty of suspense and action, and goes in directions that I would never have guessed at when I first started reading. Which is why I don’t want to give away any plot points in this post. I might write about the plot in a future post, though. I’m still going back to the book, and thinking about the story. This book is a great one, worth reading and thinking about and discussing.
Further reading:
Extended acknowledgments of the origins of some of the ideas used in Anathem are listed on Neal Stephenson’s web site.
Anathem wiki (contains spoilers)
